Pickup: Imported inflation to blame

Local manufacturer Ian Pickup is not optimistic about a reduction in Barbados’ cost of living any time soon.
Instead the immediate past president of the Barbados Manufacturers’ Association predicts the cost of living “will continue to rise” and blames it on “imported inflation”.
“The commodities are going up in price at source and then with all the add-ons, duties, wholesaler/retailer markups and VAT [these] actually escalate and push the price very high,” Pickup told the Weekend Nation yesterday, shortly after a BMEX prize-giving at the BMA’s headquarters.
“What it boils down to, I think, and this is why it is so difficult for the Government to be able to do anything, it really is an imported inflation,” Pickup said.
 
Read the full story in today’s WEEKEND NATION.